By Carolyn Bick
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Lunar Collective started in 2021 as a one-off film project called “LUNAR: the Jewish-Asian Film Project.” that focused on the lived experiences of Asian American Jews. But it was quickly clear to Lunar Collective co-founders Jenni Rudolph and Maya Chishti that a single film project wouldn’t cut it.
Now, Lunar Collective is a nonprofit with hubs in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and, recently, Seattle. Among the collective’s initiatives is its Leading Light fellowship program, which began this year. Seattle’s Leading Light fellows this year are Grace Elizabeth Dy and Daniel Tam-Claiborne, both of whom are mixed-race Asian American Jews. Dy converted to Judaism as an adult.

Daniel Tam-Claiborne, left, helps his daughter craft something at a Lunar Collective event. Courtesy of Daniel Tam-Claiborne.
Tam-Claiborne first connected with Rudolph through his work with PBS affiliate WNET, with which he works as a producer. WNET was doing a series around Asian American coalition-building and solidarity with other Communities of Color, Tam-Claiborne said. Part of this involved looking at anti-Asian and antisemitic sentiments in the wake of COVID. Tam-Claiborne and the WNET crew interviewed Rudolph, and Tam-Claiborne later submitted his own short video to “What Do I Do With All This Heritage?”
Dy, a self-described Jewish professional, had just gotten connected with Ammud, Jews of Color Torah Academy, when they found their way to Lunar Collective. Dy had originally offered their professional event planning services to Lunar Collective to remotely support the other hubs.
Neither had planned to apply for the fellowship, but when Lunar announced the opening of its Seattle hub, both decided to apply.
“I think Seattle has one of the largest representations of Asian Americans per capita for cities in the U.S., which is obviously really exciting,” Tam-Claiborne said. “I think there is a lot of intersectionality within that community that occasionally will find its way on census information and other ways of tabulation, but doesn’t often get highlighted in ways in which organizations are specifically trying to foster and seek out those individuals in that community.”
Tam-Claiborne said that people like himself—who have had little experience with both the Asian and Jewish aspect of their identities—often get “siloed,” wondering where there are others to connect with and relate to.
Lunar Collective seeks to counter that isolation, Dy said, literally from the ground up. Dy works as a student adviser in the University of Washington’s Jewish Studies program, and works as a Hebrew school teacher on the side. They know both firsthand and from students and parents what it means for students to see an Asian American Hebrew school teacher. It also leads to all sorts of questions, Dy said.
“What does it mean to be Asian in Seattle, if they come from a smaller town? Or what does it mean to be Jewish now that my parents aren’t dragging me to services? Do I wanna go? What does my Judaism look like?” Dy said.
Dy also struggles with certain questions around their Asian and Jewish identities, particularly when it comes to eating customs. The Jewish laws of kashrut dictate that Jews cannot eat pork. But Dy is Filipino and Chinese.
“And, so, pork is such an important part [of my cultural heritage]—how do you navigate those two?” Dy said.
While there are no immediate answers to questions like this, the point is that Lunar Collective creates space for the community to come up with them, and welcomes Asian Jews at whatever stage of the journey they are on, Tam-Claiborne said.
“And so there’s not an expectation when you enter a space that you have to know or ascribe to certain customs or rituals or rules,” Tam-Claiborne said. “I think that’s a powerful thing. I certainly feel like it would have been a really powerful thing for me. I hope it is for my daughter, and I hope it is for other people, young and old, who are coming to find Lunar for the first time.”
The organization also recently started an Asian American Mental Health Initiative, which holds semi-regular online meetings.
Carolyn can be reached at newstips@nwasianweekly.com.